Tuesday, May 16, 2017

Mosul Campaign Day 211 May 15 2017

Ravages of the fighting in northwest Mosul (Reuters)

More progress was made in west Mosul. The Ureibi
and Rifai
neighborhoods were freed by the Golden Division, Najar was attacked, and
there was still fighting in the Tamuz
17 area. The Golden Division was reportedly in Najar by May
2, but may not have been near it, while Tamuz 17 was declared liberated on May
13. The Iraqi Forces (ISF) often get ahead of themselves in their
announcements claiming that places are cleared when they are not. At the same
time, the Islamic State has often re-infiltrated areas after they withdraw. The
territory under IS control is rapidly shrinking, and there are only a few
neighborhoods left until all of Mosul is freed.

The Hashd announced more advances, while running into
opposition from the Kurds in their new west Mosul operation. Four villages
south of Qayrawan were taken,
and a fifth was under attack. Yesterday, two Yazidi villages were assaulted,
which brought criticism from Kurdish President Massoud Barzani. The president
claimed that there was an agreement between Irbil and Baghdad to keep the Hashd
out of Yazidi areas of Sinjar. The Peshmerga commander in Sinjar told the press
that the Hashd had changed their battle plan and entered the two towns. A
member of the Badr Brigade claimed that everything was in cooperation with the
Peshmerga. The Hashd also said
that there were Yazidis in a Brigade that took on the Sinjar villages.
President Barzani’s Kurdistan Democratic Party (KDP) is attempting to regain
control of the Sinjar district after it was retaken from the Islamic State.
They are having decided problems with that due to the presence of the Kurdistan
Workers’ Party (PKK) who rescued the locals after the KDP abandoned them in
2014 in the face of the advance of the Islamic State. Having the Hashd enter
Sinjar only further complicates the KDP’s plans, and was why it was so forceful
in criticizing their arrival. There is nothing the Kurds can do about the
situation right now. They will have to bring in the central government to make
a political deal to reverse the course of the Hashd if they are so concerned.

U.S.
envoy to the anti-IS Coalition Brett McGurk was in Ninewa during the day.
He went to a water treatment plant that had just re-opened for Ninewa. He said
the Coalition was funding hundreds of similar projects across the province. The
problem is the Trump administration has said it is not interested in rebuilding
Iraq. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson remarked in March that the U.S. would
not finance much reconstruction in Iraq or Syria. As of March 31, 2017, the
Pentagon has spent $12.5 billion on fighting the Islamic State versus just $1.2
billion for humanitarian aid. Only $350 million of the latter has gone to
Ninewa. In comparison, the deputy head of the Ninewa council estimated that
Mosul alone might need up to $100 billion to rebuild. The Iraqi government is
hoping that the Coalition and the United Nations will come up with these funds
because it is running a budget deficit with low oil prices. The White House is obviously
opposed to that idea. The U.N. has been chronically underfunded in Iraq for
years now, and won’t be able to finance any major projects either. That could
leave much of the battle damage in Ninewa unrepaired for years, which could tarnish
the military victory.

The fighting in northwest Mosul is causing a huge number of
people to leave their homes. In just four days over 40,000
came out of the city. They were sent to Hamam al-Alil to be screened and
registered. Many want to move on to east Mosul, so they can be close to their
homes. That was very difficult over the last few weeks due to the flooding of
the Tigris River, but on May 12 the Nimrod bridge south of Mosul re-opened.
That allowed the government to resume bus service to Mosul. From May 13-14,
5,300 left camps to move to the city. The ebb and flow of people in and out of
Mosul is directly related to the intensity of the fighting. With heavy combat
going on more people are fleeing, but that will quickly reverse once the last
sections of the city are taken. It will still take plenty of time for the tens
of thousands of displaced (IDPs) to return, and the government and aid agencies
will struggle to meet their needs when they do. At the same time, most IDPs
want to make their way back to their homes.

Kuwait continued to provide aid to the people of Ninewa
affected by the fighting. It was financing
a new ward in the Irbil Emergency Hospital that treats patients from Mosul. It
will have 36 beds when it is completed. Kuwait is one of the only nations on
the ground working with the Iraqi government and non-governmental organizations
to provide food and assistance inside and outside of Mosul.

Finally, the Iraqi government is slowly restoring services
to Mosul. The Trade Ministry is re-establishing
the food ration system. Several thousand residents received their first
packages of goods, and the ministry was in talks with the security forces to
secure more trucks to deliver rations to the city and displaced camps in
Kurdistan. Food is one of the top needs of Mosul as the city was cut off from
supplies for months, and there is increasing malnutrition especially in areas
under IS control and along the frontlines. Many Iraqis in general rely upon the
food ration system anyway, but given the impact of the battle that is
especially true now in Ninewa.

About Me

Musings On Iraq was started in 2008 to explain the political, economic, security and cultural situation in Iraq via original articles and interviews. I have written for the Jamestown Foundation, Tom Ricks’ Best Defense at Foreign Policy and the Daily Beast, and was responsible for a chapter in the book Volatile Landscape: Iraq And Its Insurgent Movements. My work has been published in Iraq via NRT, AK News, Al-Mada, Sotaliraq, All Iraq News, and Ur News all in Iraq. I was interviewed on BBC Radio 5, Radio Sputnik, CCTV and TRT World News TV, and have appeared in CNN, the Christian Science Monitor, The National, Columbia Journalism Review, Mother Jones, PBS’ Frontline, the Center for Strategic and International Studies, the Institute for the Study of War, Radio Free Iraq, Rudaw, and others. I have also been cited in Iraq From war To A New Authoritarianism by Toby Dodge, Imagining the Nation Nationalism, Sectarianism and Socio-Political Conflict in Iraq by Harith al-Qarawee, ISIS Inside the Army of Terror by Michael Weiss and Hassan Hassahn, The Rise of the Islamic State by Patrick Cocburn, and others. If you wish to contact me personally my email is: motown67@aol.com